The little-remembered 18 hours that Indira Gandhi spent in Venezuela

As the clock struck 12.45 pm on October 10, 1968, the aircraft carrying Prime Minister Indira Gandhi landed in Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar International Airport. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation, as it was the first time an Indian prime minister was visiting the  Latin American country. Gandhi was greeted by Venezuelan President Raúl Leoni and his cabinet ministers. As soon as she stepped out of the aircraft, the military band played the Indian national anthem, followed by the Venezuelan one.

Gandhi’s visit to Venezuela was part of a longer Latin American and Caribbean tour, which had begun in Colombia on September 23. Her itinerary also included Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina. Although she spent only 18 hours in Venezuela, the visit was filled with warm interactions with the country’s politicians and civilians. Upon her return to India, Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha that during her tour she realised “we knew less about South America than South America knows about us”. The names of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru, she stated, were widely known and quoted in each of the countries she visited.

Revisiting this episode offers perspective on a period when India was actively seeking to build diplomatic relationships with newly independent or post-colonial nations across the world, including in Latin America. Shared experiences of colonialism and parallel aspirations for political autonomy and economic development shaped these early engagements, setting them apart from Cold War-era alignments with the developed world.

As Gandhi alighted from the aircraft, she was pleased to find an airport packed with locals who had come to get a glance of her. “The people of Venezuela, who found inspiration in India’s struggle for independence, did not hold back in expressing their expression for her leader,” according to Indira Gandhi in Venezuela (1968-2013): 45th Anniversary of a Historic Visit, a book published by the Indian Embassy in Caracas in 2013.

Gandhi appeared beaming in a green coloured saree with black checks, shot with golden threads, a string of pearls around her neck and a watch on her wrist. Flags from both countries decorated the runway, as the crowd broke out in festive spirit. Gandhi is known to have requested the president to be allowed to break protocol and walk over to accept the bouquets offered by the Venezuelan people and children, as well as by the Indian communities residing there.

Before entering the official vehicle, Gandhi broke protocol once again, stopping to receive a bouquet from an Indian girl named M Rao, the daughter of a UNESCO official in Venezuela. In a spontaneous act of celebration, the Indians present at the airport broke out into the national anthem of India as she drove away to the capital city, Caracas.

At Caracas, her first stop was at the National Pantheon, which she visited accompanied by the foreign minister. She laid a wreath on the tomb of Simón Bolívar, celebrated as the liberator of the country from Spanish colonial rule. Here, too, she was met with an enthusiastic crowd that applauded her and sought her autograph.

“I come to build bridges of love between Latin America and my country,” she stated in her speech later that day. She said that she wished for closer ties between the people of India and Venezuela.

President Leoni, whose words followed Gandhi’s speech, pointed out that India and Venezuela shared common realities and motives. Venezuela, like India, he noted, was battling economic inequality within and beyond its borders. He pointed out that the fight against poverty and the determination to ensure the right of their people to self-determination, free of foreign and odious interferences, were common goals of both countries.

Before leaving Venezuela, the two leaders issued a joint communique announcing the plan to open a resident mission in Caracas to facilitate Indo-Venezuelan commercial exchanges. It said that the two countries recognised the need and potential for cooperation in the commercial, cultural, technological, and scientific fields. It also referred to the polarisation of wealth and economic power in developed countries on the one hand and the stagnation and slow progress in the developing world, and said that determined efforts were required to rectify the present patterns of international commerce.

Soon after her return to India, Gandhi spoke about her travels in the Lok Sabha. “It was a moving experience to discover that India is held in such high esteem and indeed affection,” she said, as quoted by a 1968 Times of India report. “Everywhere there is deep interest in our present endeavours and understanding of our efforts to promote international peace and cooperation,” she added.

Speaking about the significance of establishing ties with the South American countries, Gandhi pointed out: “It is to our advantage and in our national interest to forge the closest relations with the largest number of proud and resurgent nations of South America and the Caribbean. We hope that with the follow-up action which we have in mind, our objective of developing a close and fruitful relationship with them will be realised.”

Over the decades, however, the ties between India and Venezuela, rooted in anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, have been largely forgotten. Yet traces linger in unobtrusive corners of the country—such as a primary school in a village in West Bengal or a street in New Delhi’s diplomatic enclaves that bears the name of Simon Bolivar.